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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

I am an impractical cook. Or at least inefficient. Who else could make and "easy" dinner using leftovers and still mess up 2 pans, 1 pot, 1 baking sheet, and a meat slicer? But in my defense it was worth it.

I took the last little bit of our prime rib and shaved it thin on the slicer.

Then made mini sandwiches with caramelized onions and a demi-glace mayonnaise (2 tsp demi-glace to 1/2 cup mayo).

But as good as the sandwiches were, this post isn't about them it was all about the soup, because it was phenomenally good. I enjoy thick, creamy, hearty soups in the winter and this one does my bidding. I had it for dinner last night, lunch today, and dinner tonight. I hope I came close in writing it all down the way we made it because Alexis and I both said this was one of the best things we have eaten in all of 2010.

Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat and saute the onions and celery for about 5 minutes until they are starting to turn semi-opaque...ummm clear...uhh..awww screw it, TRANSLUCENT.

Add garlic and cook another minute.

Sprinkle in the flour while stirring and cook for a few minutes to make into a light roux.

Remove from heat and stir in the half & half/cream/milk mixture. The recipe called for a quart of half & half, I used what I had on hand to make a quart so don't get hung up on the proportions.

Return to heat and simmer until thickened and starting to reduce (about 15-20 minutes). Make sure to keep your heat at a simmer at most from this point on.

Add the carrot, stock, spinach , poblano, and seasonings. Simmer and stir until reduced (Another 30 or more minutes)

Remove 1-2 cups of the mixture and liquify in a food processor, blender, or Magic Bullet (yes I actually have one for just this kind of thing). Whisk in the starch and return to the soup.

Add the cooked gnocchi and 1 Tbsp butter. Stir and let warm through.

Serve topped with homemade croutons.

Results:

I already told you that the soup was a magnificent dish, enough said.

But this was the first time I ever taken the time to really caramelize onions, taking 1 1/2 hours. I didn't get them as brown in the end that I should but ding dang nabbit, their tender sweetness made them good enough to snack on.

The "demi glace mayo" which started as a joke because of the "Creme Fraiche" episode of South Park added a nice beefy depth, I can see using that with burgers in the summer.

I'm all over this soup. I've eaten at Olive Garden about once in my life and have never been back, but I'm seeing some wonderful copy cat soups from their menu. I might just have to make this recipe this weekend. Aren't caramelized onions wonderful. I think the longest I've cooked them have been just under an hour.South Park had a Creme Fraiche episode??? Have I ever told you I live next door to Kenny. No really, the real Kenny. He went to school and is friends with Trey Parker.

LOL.. I seem to have the same problem as you when it comes to cooking...how can I mess up so many pots and pans with a simple dish?? Glad I'm in good company at least!I wish I could get my Chris to eat gnocchi because I would make this soup tonight!!! YUM!

Wow, you have a meat slicer! I am so jealous. As we gear up for a move back to our long time home, DC, cooking has largely become about foraging in the freezer and the pantry. Fear not, I'll get back to poaching from my blogging buddies' recipes in February. Happy New Year.

Chris, I'm on my way to the store to pick up the fixin's for this weekends cooks...adding this recipe to that list when I noticed; the Olive Garden dish says "Chicken" and the recipe has NOTHING chicken in it at all? We don't eat at OG so looking at this recipe, chicken sounds like it would go well. I'm thinking a can of pre-cooked white meat chicken added later in the simmmering process, what do you think?

The soup looks amazing. I'm still trying to find gnocchi in my little corner of the world, but it's out there somewhere. Roast beef sandwiches - especially ones with rare thinly sliced roast are my absolute FAVORITE food on the planet. Even though yours took second seat in this post, it made me drool. LMAO about the mess, too - I need a keeper when I get going.